Tuesday, November 25, 2014

I'm often asked,"How do you get your pin-up art to look so hot 'n sexy?"It's simple, I just married my inspiration,so the perfect reference is always available.The only drawbacks?She squirms when I put the tracing paper over her,and any money I might have saved inmodeling fees goes right to new jewelry.

Monday, November 17, 2014

'Tis the season!Strolling always feels more productive if it's with your offspring snug on your chest in his daddy pack. Especially if he's smiling a lot.Today Aiden and I killed a couple hours walking the 30+ indoor and outdoor aisles ofThe Buyers Flea Market(4545 W Division St. Chicago, 8 to 5 Saturday & Sunday).If I felt more comfortable whipping out my giant fancy camera while the vendors wondered what I was up to, I'd have more arty photos to share, but hopeful my bashful crappy cellphone snaps will give you an idea if this is, or isn't, the ideal place for you to do all your Christmas shopping.Buyer's is full of auto parts, the most pimped out boom boxes and speakers, everything Ed Hardy ever put his signature on, bootleg toys, music and movies,outfit's for the curvy females in your life,and all the men's outfit's you'll need if you ever decide to move to a ranch.And much more. Usually covered in spangles.It's well worth the half a buck entrance fee to check it out every few years!

Of course, mannequins are necessary to get an idea of how you'd look in an outfit.In this case, you'd get a pretty good idea of the clothing AND how you'd look on crack!

A tip of the hat to the backfield in motion mannequinsthat you'd never find at Target or Walmart...

It was quite the painful delivery!

This underwear packaging... OMG!I didn't take a photo of it when I first walked bybecause even I was too creeped out.But right before I left I decided to rise above my personaldistaste and document it for you, my blog buddies!I just hope these kids are still alive!

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Way back when, in a time when tattoos were dangerous, mysterious and rarely seen,

only the roughest or most nefarious individuals had them, military, convicts, pirates,

circus folk and your Uncle Pete. So, of course,

every right minded kid couldn't wait to get one!

But until that glorious 18th birthday, you had to make due

with something less permanent to look tough.

In those olden days, the smallest of things were life's pleasures, finding a nickel,

a Godzilla movie on tv after school, making a fort, throwing objects off roofs,

playing stickball, reading your friends comics,

and the extra surprises hidden in the wax wrapping of bubble gum packs.

And that would include temporary tattoos.

In my brief Google search for the origin of temporary tattoos, I've found out that it's been a woefully neglected part of historians to-do lists. Would it kill those professors to write one less book on WW2 and work on a manuscript of something important instead?!

At best, the general guess is that they were introduced in

Cracker Jack's around the turn of the century.

Here are a surprise bag full of enjoyable examples I've run across

(if you want to go the extra mile and group them by subject and put them in chronological order, God's speed to you).

They range from the earliest examples to the '80s

(after that, my nostalgia fever wanes a bit).

Some of my favorites include "Scratch and Sniff" tattoos, to one of a flower pot falling on Clark Kent's head (Why Andy Warhol didn't turn this into a painting, I'll never know).